Chris Brown and Other Celebs Who Announced Retirement But Never Left

If we had a dollar for every second a celeb "retired" we'd be on the Forbes list.

Yesterday Chris Brown—our favorite king of dramatics—announced his upcoming album would be his last. Brown follows a list of entertainers that chucked the deuces to their careers several times, but it's hard to believe any celeb would completely abandon their craft. Check out our list of artists who've retired but never left the game.

Lil Wayne

After the Carter V, Wayne's bowing down on his career. This isn't the first time he's said he'll quit, so we're just waiting on the next hot track after the albums release.

Selena Gomez

Justin Bieber's ex is retiring from her music to focus on her career. But in reality that's not retirement, but rather a career change.

50 Cent

The G-Unit rapper vowed to quit if Kanye West sold more albums than him. Kanye sold more albums and he's still in the studio making music. What an idle threat.

Nicki Minaj

When you aren't getting the respect you deserve what better way to receive it when you threaten to stop. The femcee announced retiring, but with all her ventures—Myx and perfume—Nicki won't be leaving the radio waves anytime soon.

Jay Z

Jay Z retired way before Blue was a discussion in the tabloids, but this month he's dropped the Picasso video from his new album and performed on stage with Beyonce. In the words of Jay "we don't believe you, you need more people."

Jean Grae

This femcee has been in the game for years but she's still only received underground success. We're happy her retirement talk was only talkbecause we're big fans of the rapper.

Photo Credit: Okay Player

Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco has hinted at quitting ever since the Chief Keef incident. We would believe him if he didn't do the same thing in 2007 before Lasers became his first no. 1 album

Brangelina

Angelina Jolie stated in 2010, she won't be acting for much longer and in 2011 Brad Pitt said in 3 years he's retiring. We'll see what happens in 2014, but we aren't expecting any movie absence from the couple.

Muhammad Ali

The greatest ended his career in 1979. Stepped back out in 1980 and 1981 to loss twice before officially calling it quits.

Photo Credit: Mirror

Joaquin Pheonix

The phenom actor was dead serious on his retirement announcement from film in 2008. He wanted to focus on his hip hop music. Luckily for us, he's still acting and left hip-hop dreams for fellow actress Amanda Bynes.

Photo Credit: Dallas Observer

Kid Cudi

Cudi quit before he started. The kid wrote a blog on his retiring before his debut LP Man on the Moon was released. two albums later he says he's retiring after four additional albums. We'll see...

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan went from basketball to baseball, then to coaching to playing basketball and later he moved to golfing. The basketball great loves sports we just wish he made up his mind.

Diddy

Considering he can't stay committed to his own name—Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, P-Diddy, Puffy—we never took his music retirement talk seriously.

Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy made it big from his "Superman" track but after little success he took to Twitter (as they all do) to hang up his cape. Since then he's dropped his third album.

Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images

Waka Flacka Flame

"I rather work in Walmart than rap," Waka said before dropping "Round of Applause".

Mase

Pastor Mase Bethem left Harlem world after two albums to practice his ministry. He later returned with Welcome Back and teamed with G-unit.

Amanda Bynes

Before her recent antics, Amanda Bynes announced her retirement. We kinda wish she stuck with it.

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SZA called for peace and understanding at Billboard's Women In Music event Thursday (Dec. 6).

During her speech for the Rule Breaker award, singer-songwriter recalled today's climate, asking her peers and those watching at home for a little bit of peace.

"I'm sorry for the state of the world honestly, for everybody in this room and I pray that all of us just get through it a little bit easier and just try not to lash out at each other," she said.

The recurring theme of unity among women was also heard on the carpet from artists like Tierra Whack. In addition to her message of love, the "Broken Clocks" singer also thanked her TDE family for rocking with her creative process.

"I'm just so thankful for everybody having patience with me, " she said. Shouting out the key members of her family in attendance, the TDE affiliate gave praise to her mother, father, and grandma. In this brief speech centered around the artist's growth Solána Imani Rowe, known more commonly as her stage name, Rowe everyone for their trust in her.

"I'm grateful for everybody taking the time to have the patience to watch someone grow, it is painful and sometimes exciting but mostly boring. And I am thankful for Top (Top Dawg Entertainment's Anthony Tiffith) for not dropping me from that label. For Peter, who I change my ideas every day and he be like okay I like this," she continued.

Thanking the likes of musical powerhouses like Alicia Keys and Whack, "The Weekend" singer offered her appreciation and condolences to Ariana Grande.

As November comes to a close, many publications will be crafting their year-end lists for all things pop culture. Forbes released a ranking of the world's highest-paid women in music on Monday (Nov. 19), with Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Rihanna holding it down for women of color.

Beyoncé comes in at No. 3 on the list with an earning of $60 million as she made most of her money through her historical Coachella performance, the joint album with husband JAY-Z, Everything is Love, and the Carters' On The Run II Tour in support of its release.

Jennifer Lopez made No. 6 for earnings tallying of over $47 million thanks to her lucrative Las Vegas residency, endorsements, and shows including World of Dance where she serves as a judge.

Rihanna follows behind the "Love Don't Cost A Thing" diva at No. 7 with earnings of over $37.5 million. Although she hasn't toured since 2016—thanks to her cosmetics and lingerie lines, Fenty Beauty and Savage Lingerie—the Bajan pop star has been keeping herself busy.

Forbes' annual list (which factors in pretax earnings from June 1, 2017, through June 1, 2018) has placed Katy Perry at the top with over $83 million in profits due to her gig as an American Idol judge and her 80-date Witness: The Tour that brought in an estimated $1 million per night.

Kelly Rowland has it all and isn't afraid to brag about it on her new single, "Kelly."

Released Thursday (Nov. 22), the singer goes the clubby, confident route while rightfully dropping her attributes like her relationship with God, smoldering looks (a.k.a the drip) among other things. With "Kelly" being the first single since her 2013's Talk a Good Game, the singer comes out swinging, reminding everyone of her power in the game.

The mother of one has promised that her new tunes will be edgier and most honest than her past work that included vulnerable tracks like "Dirty Laundry" and massive hits like "Motivation" and "Commander." Speaking with Vogue over the summer, Ms. Kelly disclosed a few details behind the album.

“It’s about love, loss, and gain and whether it’s professional or with family or whatever, it’s just honest," she said. "I had no choice but to be honest and authentic with this record: it’s about friendship and marriage.”

She also explained a drop in confidence caused her hiatus. “I was thinking about pulling back from recording, but I couldn’t help myself: I still wanted to record. I still felt like I was missing something. The third year just came and left so fast. The fourth year I said: ‘I have to get to work’ and now I’m ready to release some music! I felt like I wasted so much time, and it was my husband who actually called me out on it. He said: ‘Babe, as great as those records were, I think you were nervous, you got gun-shy’, and when he said that it was like boom, a gong went off.”

Glad to have you back, Ms. Kelly. Listen to the eponymous record up top.